The present invention relates essentially to a mooring device for a large-sized floating body for use in particular at an off-shore location and of the type comprising an anchoring system anchored to the sea bed or bottom.
By "large-sized floating bodies" is generally hereinafter meant, without being limited to the following listing, big floating units such as barges, ships such as oil tankers, floating plants or like water-borne factories; semi-submersible platforms or rigs; and/or floating storage tanks etc., used for instance for storing and/or treating mineral products such as petroleum, natural gases (methane) etc. extracted from the sea bed.
Mooring devices of the kind referred to hereinabove are already known in the prior art, wherein for instance the mooring is provided by a more or less large float or buoy tied or fastened to the anchoring system through a possibly rigid connection pivotally connected in such a case to the float.
Such known arrangements exhibit the inconvenience of having large floats or buoys subjected through the swell of the sea or through movement of the ship itself to very large forces so that the pivotal connections are heavily stressed or strained. Moreover, the use of chain systems would result in or give rise to complicated designs since they require several (usually from 6 to 8) points of connection with the sea bottom.